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Project Staff

Prof. Dr. JanBörner

Project coordinator

Jan Börner is an agricultural and environmental economist with research and working experience in Latin America, Africa, and Europe. His research focuses on (1) land use and land use change, (2) economic evaluation of environmental and conservation policies, and (3) sustainability assessment in the bioeconomy.

Prof. Dr. StephanieBröring

Senior Researcher

Stefanie Bröring is a management scholar with a passion for novel technologies and innovation in the largers setting of the bioeconomy. Her research focuses on (1) strategic technology management, (2) innovation management in value chains and firms, and (3) public understanding of science and technology.

Prof. Dr. ThomasDietz

Senior Researcher

Thomas Dietz is a scholar of International Relations and Law with a focus on global sustainable development. His research focuses on (1) transnational governance and law, (2) the effectiveness of non-state private governance in regulating global value chains especially in the coffee sector. Within the framework of STRIVE, (3) Thomas studies the governance frameworks that enable the rise of a sustainable bioeconomy.

Dr. LisaBiber-Freudenberger

Senior Researcher

Lisa Biber-Freudenberger is evaluating the benefits and risks of bio-economic strategies and innovations for the achievement of the UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs) based on different indicators. She is interested in cross-cutting issues between human development and biodiversity including topics such as conservation, climate change, infrastructure development and agriculture.

Dr. NeusEscobar

Senior Researcher

Neus Escobar has her expertise in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing and Social LCA for the sustainability evaluation of agriculture-based systems. She has hands on experience in economic modeling (i.e. GTAP) for Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) quantification. She is currently focused on developing approaches for Consequential LCA, with the interest of studying emerging supply chains in the Bioeconomy, by considering innovation transfers, international biomass trade and sociopolitical contexts.

Dr. Jan JanoschFörster

Senior Researcher

Janosch Förster is investigating the question of how to govern socio-economic processes related to the bioeconomy towards greater sustainability. He applies a multi-level governance perspective with a notion of social theory and life cycle thinking to case-based studies relating to bioplastics and biopharmaceuticals. His other research interests and academic expertise lie in the fields of natural resource governance, especially water governance in South Africa.

Dr. NicolasGerber

Senior Researcher

Nicolas Gerber is an environmental and resource economist with work experience in Africa and Asia. He has contributed to and led projects in the fields of food and nutrition security, sustainable agricultural intensification, or the water-sanitation-agriculture-health nexus. He is particularly interested in assessing and modeling household and individual behavior with respect to biomass use or the adoption of innovations and their impacts on production, nutrition and health.

Dr. NatalieLaibach

Senior Researcher

Natalie Laibach is interested in bioeconomy innovation and key enabling technologies. Her research focuses on identification and evaluation of those, also in terms of sustainability in cooperation with the other team members. She has a background in plant biology and experiences in yam and dandelion research.

Dr. TillStellmacher

Senior Researcher

Till Stellmacher’s main field of expertise is governance, agrarian transformation, and environmental change in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. He holds a PhD in agricultural sciences and has several years of work experience in development research in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Burkina Faso. He is currently focusing on questions related to the local governance of socio-ecological systems towards a sustainable bioeconomy.

SalwaHaddad

Junior Researcher

Salwa Haddad is interested in modelling the bioeconomy using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) economic model (i.e. GTAP model). She is currently focused on assessing the impact of a rapid expansion of bio-based materials (i.e. bioplastics) on land use, land use change and related GHG emissions at a global level.

JamesHenderson

Junior Researcher

James Henderson’s research is based on a better understanding of South American soybean production to consumption systems, and their role in the global bio-economy. His professional background spans several aspects of agricultural supply chains, having worked as a researcher for the United States Department of Agriculture, as an agricultural extensionist with the United States Peace Corps, with global trade issues at the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), as well as certification and sustainability issues for 4C/Global Coffee Platform (GCP).

GabrielPonzoni Frey

Junior Researcher

Gabriel Ponzoni Frey is modeling the bioeconomy-driven soy expansion in the Brazilian Amazon looking at biophysical and economic drivers. He is interested in the bioeconomy commodity markets and their local and global implications for forest ecosystem services, especially biodiversity.

Amit KumarBasukala

Research Assistant

Amit is working as research assistant in the field of GIS and data management in this project. He is involved in development and maintenance of the project data base in collaboration with Center for Development Research (ZEF)’s data management team and partners at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). His other research interests and academic expertise lie in GIS and remote sensing based management of water resource, agriculture, food security, climate change, socioecological systems, ecosystem services, biodiversity, & sustainability.

AnjaKöhler

Website / Public Relations

Anja Köhler is responsible for the STRIVE website and public relation issues of the project. She is a geograher and has been working with the administration of websites for many years.